Ad Astral Science Fiction Podcast · DJ Burnham

Ad Astral Science Fiction Podcast Episode 21: Hierarchy

·42 min·2 clips

The analysts engineered the Conflict Convention to study human warfare before taking control of governments and resources.

1. Ad Astral Science Fiction Podcast Episode 21 presents D.J. Burnham’s science-fiction story “Hierarchy.” 2. D.J. Burnham wrote and narrated “Hierarchy,” while Simon Taylor plays General Miller and Dave Burnham plays General Clarkson. 3. The episode asks who controls a war when soldiers, generals, and governments all answer to higher levels of authority. 4. Fifty soldiers march in identical khaki uniforms toward a battlefield fought over the same narrow strip of land for twelve months. 5. Mortar explosions and gunfire reduce the platoon until its final soldier collapses among destroyed bodies and equipment. 6. Manipulator 61 operates the soldiers as human-sized marionettes through strings, counterweights, and a large wooden gantry. 7. The manipulators use visual feedback from the soldiers’ eyes and electrocouple points to correct broken strings almost instantly. 8. Teleoperators supervise ten animatronic manipulator galleries through head-up displays showing combat efficiency, readiness, tactical streams, and front-line contours. 9. General Miller and General Clarkson describe droid fatigue, immersion shifts, and the danger of directly controlling a combat gantry. 10. The generals identify the 2090 United Nations Conflict Convention as the rule system that created controlled, casualty-free combat zones. 11. Miller says the war’s outcome is based on a cumulative point system whose analysts are unknown to the generals. 12. A pre-login dice throw determines the teleoperator’s access level, and Miller is pleased after throwing a six. 13. The ProAct ship Lack of Compromise waits in geostationary orbit while analysts study Earth’s military conflict. 14. Analeo contains datarists, newsers, systematisers, scopers, psychs, and proacts with distinct cultural and technical functions. 15. The analysts have no captains or senior officers because their society has “no concept of hierarchy.” 16. The analysts use controlled technological escalation and conflict data to prepare for possible intervention in human affairs. 17. Burnham says he combined ideas about concentrated power, war’s waste, and hierarchical institutions into the story. 18. The episode’s closing commentary connects “Hierarchy” to Burnham’s interest in Iain M. Banks and the Culture novels. 19. Listeners who enjoy telepresence warfare and alien social engineering. 20. Listeners seeking realistic battlefield reporting should skip this fictional hierarchy.

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